Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Wednesday morning at the shop, I got a call from Martha. Groaning, I put my book down that I'd been reading and answered. "Good morning, this is Jill."

"Miss Gardner, I haven't heard from you yet. Have you found a new site for your wedding and reception, or will you be using the grounds for your reception? I need to know, as I've got another wedding waiting for your answer."

Martha didn't mess around. She got right to the point.

I decided to make the decision. "We'll be having the reception on the grounds. We had the entire mission from ten to six. Now, we'll just need the grounds from one to six. We'll have the caterers on-site at noon."

"Okay then. That will be fine. I'll deduct the time and wedding venue from your final bill. I'll need a full payment by the end of September, and that will finalize your date. Of course, it will be much less since you put a deposit down." Martha seemed happy to have the decision made. Maybe she was more like me than I'd given her credit for. She just wanted to get the plan in place. "But if you find a place where you could have both, I'd understand if you need to cancel."

Now I just needed to find a place to have the wedding that was at least close to the mission so guests wouldn't be driving far. Maybe I'd luck out and be able to talk to Greg tonight as well.

Then I felt guilty about Mandy. If Greg had time to talk to me, that would mean Mandy was still missing.

"Miss Gardner, are you still there?" Martha asked.

I'd been lost in my planning. "Sorry, yes. I'm excited to celebrate my wedding at the mission."

"I am deeply sorry I had to disappoint you on the ceremony, but you have to understand, rules are rules." Martha said goodbye as I pulled out the planner Greg had bought me last year.

I made a list of things I needed to do. Find a chapel. Finish the announcements and send them. Talk to Aunt Jackie. Plan a retirement party. Finish my degree. Oh, and keep Josh busy so Greg could try to find Mandy and maybe help with the professor's murder investigation.

I didn't want to think about restructuring the bookstore to cover my aunt's retirement. I was acting like this was my problem instead of celebrating her next chapter in life. I looked around the bookstore and took in the fact that I was going to be totally responsible for it. Again.

Except I wasn't. When my aunt joined my "team" of then one—me—I'd been trying to do it all on my own. Now I had other people who loved the bookstore as much as I did. We were a big family, and we could survive when my aunt retired.

I was almost sure of it.

Instead of wallowing in my fear of being alone, I pulled out my laptop and the books I'd checked out and started working again. I had one or two customers wander in and buy coffee or a book, but mostly, I had alone time. And my project was shaping up. Just a few more days, maybe a week, and I'd hit my deadline. I had classes this week, so I needed to drive to Bakerstown tonight and tomorrow, then again next week. And I'd be done. Unless I needed to turn my paper in late. And I'd promised myself that wasn't going to happen.

Deek came down at eleven and started setting up for his shift. He refilled my cup. "I expected you to be reading. Are you writing my review?"

I shook my head and added the item to my to-do list. I'd added several items as the ideas came to me. It was thrilling not to have to stop and worry. I just added it to the list, and I'd handle it another time. Tonight, I needed to prioritize the list and put tomorrow's to-do list on the next page.

One day, one task at a time.

At noon, I packed up my laptop and called Greg. "Hey, I'm going to Diamond Lille's for lunch since I have class tonight. Do you want to join me?"

"Sorry, I have a working lunch meeting with the DA and the Bakerstown chief. We've already ordered, and Esmeralda's on her way down to pick it up. If you hurry, you can walk with her."

I sighed and stood. "I'll see you tonight then."

"Wait, don't tell me you and Esmeralda haven't talked yet. You really need to fix whatever happened between the two of you. If I need to broker this peace, it might be a week or so before I can scrape up the time. I've told both of you this was my fault, so just make up already."

"Yes, sir, whatever you say, sir." I tried to make it sound like I was joking, but I didn't feel like laughing.

"Jill, you'll be sorry if you let this simmer. Just fix it. I've got to go."

As I walked down the street toward Lille's, I could see Esmeralda ahead of me. I could be the bigger person, hurrying to meet up with her and apologizing for my attitude, but I didn't feel like this was my fault.

And from what I'd heard from Greg, I didn't think she thought she'd done anything wrong either. So instead of going straight to Diamond Lille's, I tucked into the scuba shop. Steve was at the counter, looking at a catalogue. "Good morning, I'm Jill. I'm the bookstore owner."

"I remember you." He closed the catalogue. "What can I do for you this morning? Maybe some scuba lessons for you and your boyfriend for the upcoming nuptials?"

Now I felt like an idiot. Just because I hadn't known him didn't mean he didn't know me. I smiled and shook my head. "I'm not much of a swimmer. I like to run the beach, not swim under the water. But Mandy and Josh? They were taking lessons?"

"Josh more than Mandy. I didn't want to tell him, but Mandy's scuba'd all her life. She's a natural. She used to work for the shop before she started dating Josh. I guess she didn't want him to feel like he was behind." He nodded to a picture on the counter. "Although I probably should have put that away. He's never noticed it that I've seen, but that's Mandy and the crew I had working here a few years ago. We'd travel together."

I picked up the picture. Mandy's grin was infectious. And next to her, with flowered swim trunks, was what looked to be a younger Tank Harding. I pointed to the man next to Mandy. "Steve, is that Tank Harding?"

"Theodore Harding, but yeah, he started going by Tank a few years ago when he got out of school and went to college. He's a local boy. He and Mandy were close for years. Then he went away for that Mexico dig and broke up with her. Broke Mandy's heart, but then she met your friend Josh." Steve took the picture. "I always thought those two would end up together. Now, she's missing, and he's back in town, trying to play the hero. As usual."

"You think he's looking for her?" I saw Esmeralda leave Diamond Lille's with two big bags of food. I didn't need to hide anymore. But Steve's trip down memory lane was interesting.

"I wouldn't put it past him. Like I said, the two of them were close. Tank wanted her life to be perfect. He'd do anything for the girl."

I thought about Tank and Mandy as I walked over and found a booth at the diner. The hostess stand had a sign that instructed customers to seat themselves, which meant that Lille was out of the building. Lille was the owner and a good friend to my new uncle Harrold. She even loved my aunt Jackie. Me? She treated me like I was a plague carrier. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd done to earn a spot on Lille's Most Annoying Persons list, but I had been there since I'd moved to South Cove.

Carrie, my favorite waitress and probably the person who kept me off Lille's banned customer list, handed me a menu as she stopped by. "Water, tea, or milkshake?"

"Since I'm eating alone and heading to class after this, milkshake." I took the menu. "What's on Tiny's special list today?"

"California cobb salad, clam chowder, and your man's favorite, stuffed meatloaf." She pulled out her notepad. "Do you need a minute?"

I shook my head and handed her back the menu. "California cobb and the vanilla shake. That should confuse my body enough for the day."

"I like how you think, girl." She tucked her notebook away. "Doc's newest visitor. Was he one of your professors?"

"A few years ago, but yes. Professor Wellborn was such a nice guy. I can't believe someone would kill him. I think he had five suit jackets. One for each day. They were all threadbare."

"According to Doc, they don't think the motive was a robbery. He still had a hundred dollars cash in his wallet. Although his leather satchel was taken. I guess I thought you knew that from Greg." She glanced around the almost empty café. "If he asks, you didn't hear it from me. Doc's trying to keep me from blabbing all the time about his cases. But it's his own fault if he tells me something, right?"

"Mum's the word." I pulled out the book I was almost finished with. I could write a review now, but the story was so good, I needed to know the end. I'd write the review during my shift tomorrow.

My milkshake was delivered by a new girl. Her name tag said Teresa, but I was pretty sure that was the name tag Lille gave all the new hires until they'd stayed for at least ninety days. Which wasn't a lot of them. Lille was a hard taskmaster. I never knew their real names. I thanked her and went back to reading.

By the time my salad and milkshake were consumed, I'd finished the book as well. Carrie took my plate and nodded to the milkshake. "Do you want one to go?"

I shook my head. "No, I need to get going. Emma will want a run before I head to class, and two milkshakes won't settle well with running."

"For me, that would mean I'd have to give up running, not a milkshake." She took my card and ran it through her machine. "I'm sorry about your professor. And this thing with Mandy? Josh is looking haunted lately."

"I know. I feel so bad for him." I thought about the olive tree that Mandy had wanted to get married under. If she'd gone out there to measure something and fallen, maybe she was still there. Of course, I wasn't sure how she would have gotten there—her work truck was at the fruit stand, or was when I drove by yesterday. Greg had found her Mustang at her residence. But it was a possibility, right? The olive tree was up in the hills, past the Castle. The road came out into Bakerstown, but I rarely used it, since the Pacific Coast Highway was faster and mostly ran right next to the ocean, where I could watch the waves.

I tucked the book away and said goodbye to Carrie, reassuring her again, I wouldn't tell Greg I'd heard anything from her. Then I hurried home. I couldn't deprive Emma of a run based on a wild goose chase, but it would be shorter than normal. Then I'd shower, get ready for class, and take off. I could grab a bite before class at the school and call it dinner. Maybe a pastry and coffee or something.

At worst, I'd have gone the long way to class tonight. And the idea of Mandy sitting on the ground in front of that tree would stop going through my head.

* * * *

When I got to the tree, another vehicle was there. My heart started racing. Had I been right? I hurried over, just to see Josh walking toward me up the hill on the other side of the tree. He waved.

"You better stay up there. The hillside is rocky," he called up to me, so I stayed where I was and watched him climb.

"Josh, what are you doing here?" I asked when he was in talking range.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead with a rag he'd had in his pocket. "Probably the same thing as you. I thought maybe she'd come up here to check on something. She told you that she wanted the wedding here. I thought maybe she'd just be sitting here, maybe a broken ankle or something, and mad as a hornet that no one had driven by yet."

I rubbed his arm. "You're right. I had the same thought. Why were you down the hill?"

"There's a creek down there. Mostly dry now, but in the spring, it runs pretty fast. I got to the tree, and she wasn't here. So I thought maybe she'd been taking pictures and slipped. But no, she's not there either. And there's nothing proving she was even here. You think I'm an idiot."

It wasn't a question. "No, I don't. And if you are, I am too, because I'm here thinking the same thing. We'll find her, Josh. We just have to keep looking. Keep the faith."

He stared at me. Then he trudged to his van. "I don't know how much longer I can."

I looked around a little longer after Josh drove off. Mandy wasn't here. I could feel the emptiness of the area. But now that I'd checked, I wondered if there were other places she might have been and had an accident. Like the community hall in South Cove. It didn't have any full-time staff there. Maybe she'd fallen in the gym area and no one had checked lately.

I tried to call Greg to have him check, but there was no cell service. So I got in my car and drove to class. The road up here was two lanes, but even with South Cove being out of the mainstream, driving here felt like I was on the surface of the moon. No cars were ahead of or behind me. As I came into Bakerstown, I started to see people, but even then, it wasn't busy, not like the coastal side of the town was. This was more a farming area, and I'd seen tractors out in the middle of fields, just waiting to be started up again so they could finish their tasks.

Mandy loved the area. I felt like I was totally alone out here. And not in a clear-your-head sort of way. I'd never liked crowds, but being alone like that, it felt dangerous. Like there was something waiting for me to make a mistake.

I turned toward the university, and my phone rang. I jumped out of my skin, or would have if the seatbelt hadn't held me in my seat. I answered the call. It was Greg.

"Hey, sorry I missed lunch today. I'll be glad when classes are over. Especially during investigations. I feel like as soon as I have a free minute, you're gone." He was crunching on something. "Oh, and Emma says she misses you too."

"Just don't let her tell you we didn't go running. I took her right after lunch." I told him about running into Josh at the olive tree.

"Jill, I wish you wouldn't do things like that. That isn't a safe area for a woman alone. What if it hadn't been Josh who was coming up the hill? Did you even think about that? What if a rattlesnake had bitten you? Then I wouldn't even know you'd gone a different way to class."

"Treating me like a child doesn't make me feel bad about what I did." I pulled the Jeep into a parking spot and shut the engine off. Of course, it did, but he didn't need to know that. "I've got to go."

I terminated the call and grabbed my laptop bag. I normally would have spent more time with him before class, just talking about our days, but right now, I was afraid of what I'd say. I tended to be a "shoot first and ask forgiveness later" type. And since Greg was already deep into investigation mode, pointing out the flaws in his logic wouldn't go over well.

By the time I'd get home tonight, he'd be asleep or back at the station. We'd talk tomorrow and clear this up. But for now, I just wanted to be mad and right. There would be time to apologize later.

I started walking to the library to work. And I realized I hadn't mentioned my theory that Mandy might be hurt at the community center. Glancing at my watch, I didn't have time to drive to South Cove and then back. And we had a test tonight. One that couldn't be rescheduled. I texted Josh and told him to meet me at the bookstore tonight at ten thirty.

Greg couldn't gripe if I had someone with me to fight off the bad guys and the rattlesnakes, right? And I'd be ten minutes away from home. I could yell, and he'd hear me at the station.

I figured it was a good compromise. I didn't know what Greg would think. But right now, Mandy's life was more important.